The Meteorites is out on 6th February, and I thank Netgalley and the publishers for the chance of an ARC.
I really enjoyed this book, but I thought it had some problems which needed a good edit. It also had some errors of fact, so I dropped the publishers an email to check on the status of the ARC and whether this edition was going to be further edited. I haven’t heard back, and it looks like it’s going out on time.

The Meteorites: Encounters with Outer Space and Deep Time
by Helen Gordon
From your window you can see the stars and distant light years away, it’s easy to think that our existences and theirs will never intersect. Yet meteorites – mysterious, irregular rocks of sometimes immense value – connect us with the vastness of the universe. They may have brought the first life to our planet, and today they still reveal extraordinary scientific insights.
Helen Gordon reveals the fascinating stories of fallen meteorites and the lives they’ve touched – from collectors to kings, scientists to farmers. She meets amateur astronomers and gem dealers, goes meteorite hunting across rooftops and learns what objects moving through space can tell us about the fragility of life on Earth. [goodreads]
My Review
Helen Gordon does a splendid job of leaving no stone unturned in her exploration of the meteorites, their origins, arrivals, discovery, collection, trading, analysis, and general lore. I had no idea there was such a fanatical following for them. Scientific collection is one thing, but those guys with big pockets are buying aesthetically pleasing ones as art sculpture – at old master prices! Yet if you were as lucky as one household in Oxfordshire, you could make a name for yourself with one landing on your front drive.
Helen Gordon must have spent a huge amount of time and money on this research, since she has been to many meteorite landings sites (large and small) and far flung places, interviewing everyone from desert dwellers to convention enthusiasts. Also scientists based in most continents, and with meteorites from every one (Antarctica is heaven since they are easy to see and generally in pristine condition). Some of the interviews have been zoom meetings, but others were definitely geological excursions into very interesting country.
I learnt things about meteorites that I had no clue about. I started to understand why they are so important to unravelling the mystery of life and how/where it formed. Also, why the search for water on Mars is so crucial to our understanding of our origins, and I have probably converted to the ‘life brought about by comets and meteorites’ theory.
I would like to give it five stars and stop there.
And yet. Little things bugged me. First, she’s writing during pregnancy, childbirth and possibly the first three years of her child. I forgave her for waxing lyrical about family life in the first chapter, and we got that behind us. But oh no. Most chapters swerve into domestic meanderings at the most inelegant moments. The worst (I think) was when she sent a photo back home of the lovely meteorite she’d just seen. She didn’t have to tell us of the lovely photo of her 3 year-old’s drawings that was sent back, but she did, in detail. The scientist she interviewed over zoom was on maternity leave, but pleased to talk about her research. It was really interesting, but I’m sure the scientist is mortified that the world now knows she was jiggling her toddler on her knee all during the interview.
And then she described a film with a tornado disaster that she ranted about being inaccurate on several counts, when the disaster was a tsunami (and you’ve probably seen it). And the more I thought about it, the more I started to wonder. Why was Helen Gordon qualified to write this book (the writing is very readable, but her other titles are… dubious). Why did these inaccuracies and diversions slip through? Have they been eliminated on final edit, or as an ARC was the content as expected to be published?
Am I just irritated by what could have been a brilliant book being drawn down to maybe 3 stars, if generous? I have no confidence in this book now.
A fair review Jemima, we can only speak as we find. Hugs
An honest review. If you had stopped after the first part, I might have purchased the book for a friend of mine, but the second party of your review told me he wouldn’t enjoy the book!
Well, that was exactly my trouble reviewing it. I really had a lot of trouble knowing what to say. And the more I thought about the problems I had with it, the more my imagination ran away, as you can tell, since I looked up her other titles on Goodreads. The questions mount up so much it becomes suspicious.
Thanks for taking one for the team! I am very bothered by non-fiction that may be inaccurate, but I don’t think there’s anything about the publishing process that includes fact-checking the science. I’ll give this a pass—I might tolerate the excessive maternalism (though I can’t see what it serves—maybe hoping to make herself more human?), but if I can’t trust the facts, I want nothing to do with it.